It is not possible to stop every hazard; for example, your school cannot stop a tornado from occurring. For those hazards that cannot be prevented, your school EOP needs to include ways to reduce their impact. Mitigation measures are ways to save lives and protect property when a hazard occurs.

Some examples of mitigation measures include:

• Securing heavy items to walls;
• Building berms and flood walls to minimize water damage;
• Implementing structural improvements to “harden” school buildings against high winds;
• Installing snow fencing or retrofitting flat roofs with additional support to handle snow load to help save lives and reduce property damage during a winter storm; and
• Cutting vegetation to reduce wild fires and eliminate possible hiding places for threatening persons.